This invention relates to the field of joining adjacent pieces of furniture with a metal fastening plate.
Prior to the present invention, a metal plate having two or more spaced holes has been employed to fasten furniture together. Such plates are placed flat against two adjacent pieces or units of furniture with at least one hole overlapping each piece. Wood screws inserted through these holes lock the plate to each piece of furniture. Normally, two or more plates are used.
These plates suffer several disadvantages. Often the unit of furniture which is to support another unit has only a narrow structural element adjacent to the unit to be supported. A common example of this situation is a dresser supporting a mirror where only the top of the dresser has sufficient strength to support the mirror mounted by a frame. The frame also has only a limited suitable area. It is desirable to locate the fastening plates so that the mounting screws are along the center line of the structural element of both units. This cannot always be accomplished by using the prior art plate because the fixed hole spacing employed in such plates defines a fixed distance between mounting screws. If such plates are mounted at an angle (with respect to vertical) to accommodate different spacings, undesirable forces on the plate results. The present invention overcomes this disadvantage by making the distance between mounting screws selectable. This invention allows furniture to be easily joined together with screws located along the center line of major structural elements.
Another disadvantage of the prior art plate previously described is that with the plate held in the appropriate mounting position, it is very difficult to see the exact mounting screw location because it must be viewed through the small mounting hole in the plate. The precise screw location is important for several reasons. First, any exiting screws, pins, or nails must be avoided. Second, if located too close to the edge of a surface, the screw may break through or mar the surface. The embodiment of this invention provides increased visibility of the screw location when held in position for mounting thereby overcoming this problem.
After the units are fastened together, it is sometimes desirable to readjust the distance between the units. This might be for purely aesthetic reasons or to serve a functional purpose such as to level the supported unit. If the fixed screw spacing of the prior art plate would allow such a change, new mounting holes would have to be used. The fastening plate embodying the current invention makes readjustment easy since only a mounting screw need be loosened and tightened after the desired adjustment is made. No new mounting holes are required.